The University of Bristol Botanic Garden opens for its 30th anniversary year under the National Garden Scheme (NGS), which supports the opening of gardens of quality, character and interest, on Sunday 14 September.

At the Garden opening visitors will have the chance to see new plantings, illustrating European Mediterranean flora and unique native plants, many rare to the Bristol area.

On show will be the Gardens extensive Evolution Collection, which was formally opened by Professor David Bellamy in July 2008. This includes a sunken Evolutionary Dell, where visitors walk through the past 500 million years of plant evolution, and an ‘Angiosperm Phylogeny Display’. This forms a family tree, illustrating the latest understanding of flowering plant relationships based on the DNA sequencing of plant genes and is the first of its kind in the UK.

Many of the plants are grown in the extensive glasshouse, which is home to the Giant Amazon Water Lily, the exquisite Sacred Lotus collection, many tropical fruits and medicinal plants, and Wolly, the famous Wollemi Pine.

Visitors can join tours of the Garden from 2 pm to learn how the new plant collections have been developed and used. There will also be a plant sale and refreshments will be available.

Admission is £4.50 (including the tour), children free. Proceeds will go to the NGS and University of Bristol Botanic Garden

The event is being held from 2pm to 5 pm at the University Botanic Garden, The Holmes, Stoke Park Road, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS8 1JB. For further information please telephone 0117 331 4912 or visit the website.